PLDT abandons plans to use Meralco infrastructure for BPL

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) has abandoned previously stated plans to offer broadband over power lines (BPL), via a tie-up with Manila Electric Co (Meralco). PLDT president Napoleon Nazareno told InterAksyon: ‘It was not viable at [the] time we did pilot test. It was not economical because of [a] technological issue’.

BPL was one of the potential business synergies that PLDT and Meralco were exploring when the country’s largest telco acquired a majority 49.96% stake in the electricity distribution company, as part of Beacon Electric Asset Holdings, a joint venture with Metro Pacific. The plan would have involved tapping Meralco’s poles and fibre-optic network to provide internet connectivity directly to the more than five million households that use Meralco’s supply.